Police probe 1960s child abuse at Glasgow school

Chris Marshall

POLICE are investigating claims that a teacher sexually abused pupils at a school in Glasgow nearly 50 years ago.

A woman, who is now in her sixties, claims the man raped her in her own home when she was 16.

She recently went to the police after learning from a school friend that she had also been abused by the man.

The women were both pupils at Kingsridge School in Drumchapel, which closed in 1992.

The woman said she had “blocked out” what happened to her, but eventually went to police after she recently began suffering “flashbacks” about the incident.

Police are now investigating the allegations amid claims the teacher may have abused other pupils at the school.

Speaking to Scotland on Sunday, the woman said she had never told anyone about the alleged rape until a conversation with a school friend earlier this summer.

“As soon as I said it, I realised all the flashbacks I was having were from this,” she said. “I decided that I would go to the police with my friend. Until I said this to my friend, I had never mentioned this to another person in my life.

“I had blocked everything out of my mind, everything about school, everything about what had happened to me.

“But my friend had a photographic memory. When we went to the police, she could describe right down to the last button what he was wearing on the day (he attacked her).”

The teacher is believed to have left the school in the late 1960s.

The woman said: “I understand that things were different then. Things like sexual harassment – if someone touched you 40 or 50 years ago you brushed it off – but this was a rape.

“If he’s dead, then fine, it’s finished. But if he’s alive, I want him punished.”

The woman claimed the teacher had attacked her as she slept in her own bed after he came round to her house to visit her brother.

She said: “Until now, I have not been able to sleep with an open door in my bedroom. My bedroom door has to be closed.

“Even with my husband, I had to make sure that door was closed.

“I understand it now, why I didn’t feel safe in my bed.”

Earlier this year, Police Scotland unveiled its new National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, which has 50 dedicated ­officers across Scotland.

The unit is already investigating a number of allegations relating to historical abuse, some dating back 70 years.

A police spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that inquiries are continuing into allegations of historical sexual abuse at a school in Drumchapel.

“Inquiries are at an early stage and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”